Carmen

The Search for Munda: A Literary Journey

In the autumn of 1830, a scholar set out through the sun-scorched plains of Andalusia, Spain. He was on a mission to solve a great historical mystery: where, exactly, did Julius Caesar fight his final, desperate battle of Munda? While official maps pointed to Monda near Marbella, our narrator's research pointed elsewhere: north, near Montilla.

Traveling with only a few shirts, Caesar's Commentaries, and a hired guide, the scholar wandered the high, parched lands of the Cachena plain. Hot, exhausted, and cursing both Caesar and Pompey, he suddenly spotted a patch of green reeds. It was the promise of water.

Following a stream into a narrow gorge between the spurs of the Sierra de Cabra, he discovered a beautiful, hidden amphitheater. White sand, bubbling spring water, evergreen oaks, and lush grass made it a perfect sanctuary. But he was not the first to discover it.

Roused by the neighing of the horses, a sleeping figure stood up. He was powerful, tanned dark by the sun, with a proud, sullen gaze. In one hand he held his horse's halter. In the other, he gripped a brass blunderbuss—a tense beginning to an unexpected encounter.